What to expect in Year 6

The final year of primary school can seem daunting. But Year 6 can also be a fun and exciting year of school with lots of landmarks, achievements and memories to be made.

All schools do tests in Year 6 to show what has been learnt throughout primary school. For most pupils, this will be SATs, which are compulsory.

Many schools will also do fun things like a school play or a big school trip.

Anxiety in exams is normal, but it's important to remember that there's more to the year than tests. You can find out more about SATs here.

Maths - Year 6

Number and place value

This year your child will be expected learn to work with larger numbers than before.

This includes reading and ordering numbers up to 10,000,000, and multiplying and dividing four digit numbers by two digit numbers.

They're also expected to be able to do calculations in their head including mixed operations and larger numbers.

Recap

Your child will also need to remember some number facts from previous years;

You can also have fun practising your maths in Guardians: Defenders of Mathematica.

Guardians: Defenders of Mathematica, from BBC Bitesize

Algebra

In Year 6 your child will be introduced to some algebra.

An algebra problem just means a missing number problem, where the missing number is shown using a letter.

For example, there are 4 stones in a pack and a path needs 32 stones. We need to know how many packs to buy. We could say:

y × 4 = 32

y means the number of packs. We're not sure how many it is just yet so we're calling it y.

To solve it we could say y = 32 ÷ 4. The amount of packs we need is the answer to 32 ÷ 4.

32 ÷ 4 = 8

y = 8

To make the path you need 8 packs of 4 stones.

Quiz: Year 5 maths recap

Have a go at the maths recap quiz with your child to see how much they can remember from last year.

English - Year 6

Reading

In English there will be a SATS test to take on reading comprehension. Your child will need to be able to:

Make inferences -this means reading between the lines and looking for clues
Make predictions - using what you've read to work out what might happen
Understand the context - this means how the time and place the writing is set in affects the meaning.

Recap

Your child will also need to use some of the skills and knowledge they learned in previous years such as:

Writing

In writing your child will continue learn how to use higher level punctuation, such as semicolons, colons and dashes.

They'll need to know how to identify different themes, and write for different purposes and audiences.

They will also continue to learn more advanced grammar such as active and passive voice, and the subjunctive form.

Recap

Children also need to use the writing and grammar techniques they have learned in previous years and put everything together.

They will have a spelling punctuation and grammar test and have their writing assessed. This will be scored by the teacher using pieces of writing from different genres, in fiction and non-fiction.

An important part is editing their writing independently after producing it. Things to revise include:

Quiz: Year 5 English recap

Try out this English recap quiz with your child to see how much they know already.

Wellbeing

Have a look at what Parents' Toolkit has to offer for advice on how parents and children can get the new term off to a good start.

Things to try at home with Parents' Toolkit

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